Bityukov: Ukraine and Israel as the 'Uncomfortable' Adults in a Room Full of Immature Teenagers

Amidst the ruins of the Middle East and the craters in Ukrainian black soil, there exists a significant commonality that may not be immediately apparent. These are not merely two regional wars; they represent a shared anatomy of catastrophe that exposes the same existential clash, where the very right of a nation to exist hangs in the balance. However, beyond this, there are other similarities that remain unnoticed by many.

The world has grown accustomed to the notion that security can be rented, much like a hotel room. For years, the Gulf countries have watched Iranian expansion through the panoramic windows of the Burj Khalifa, hoping that the United States would always keep the Strait of Hormuz open. This is the stance of neighbors who see a gang in the alley but merely change their routes, pretending that everything is fine. Yet, the bill for this illusion of security always arrives sooner or later.

Economic prosperity and democracy are deviations that require daily protection. The natural state of the world, without effort, is decay. The world is still trying to localize the fire, convincing itself that Ukraine is 'somewhere on the periphery of Europe' and Iran is a 'complex religious drama.' But the truth is far more unpleasant: it is a war between those willing to act and those who have spent years learning to evade responsibility.

Today, Ukraine and Israel emerge as the 'uncomfortable' adults in a room filled with immature teenagers. We irritate the world with our refusal to die quietly. The world has become accustomed to discarding things not because they are broken, but because a 'newer version' has appeared. We are that 'old' thing that refuses to be thrown onto the dustbin of history and boldly stands against aggressive chaos.

Despite the disparity in size between the aggressor and the victim, we have not shied away from resistance. While the Emirates await a toothless UN resolution, we demonstrate that subjectivity is not granted—it is clawed out. We cannot afford the luxury of waiting. We cannot indulge in the illusion that someone will come and fix everything. We will not disappear faster. This experience is one we can already export alongside our counter-drone efforts.

Israel has chosen to act preemptively. It did not wait for the nuclear threat to become a reality. It did not wait for Iran to gain combat experience in collaboration with Russia. It did not attempt to 'look the aggressor in the eye' or plan to 'kneel before him' to ask for peace. This is a lesson that we in Ukraine learned too late.

For years, Iran has built a network of proxy forces around Tel Aviv—in Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen. This is almost a mirror image of what the Russian Federation is doing in Europe, creating its political proxies in Budapest or Bratislava. The playbook is the same; only the landscape differs. We must learn to view war not only as a tragedy but also as a brutal logic of consequences. The world around us is not a coincidence. What we have today is not chaos or karma, but the result of our decisions, mistakes, silence, and compromises of the past.

If we view a country as a living organism, our current pain is an exacerbation of a disease we have ignored for decades. War sobers. It exposes the cause-and-effect relationships that we have postponed for years. We find ourselves at a point of rethinking. Such an opportunity comes once in a generation: to stop being an object of others' agreements and to become the architect of our own strength.

Security cannot be delegated. It can either be built by oneself, or one day wake up in a reality where it is too late to build.